Deep and Dangerous and Forbidden
by toxicwaffles1000
Summary: Arthur Kirkland lives in a small oceanside town on the Cape of Massachusetts. Despite his grandfather's wishes, Arthur is an aspiring marine biologist fascinated with the sea. The village has a popular story about strange creatures living in the water, but that's all they are. Stories. Or at least that's what Arthur wants to believe.
1. Chapter 1

Deep and Dangerous and Forbidden

Chapter 1

Arthur sat in the study with a pile of books around him. He was reading about the sea creatures that lived in the waters of the small fishing village his grandfather lived in off the coast of Massachusetts.

The sea had always fascinated him. Arthur could remember times when he would come to visit as a lad, running across the beaches and standing in the freezing water up to his knees. He smiled to himself, those were the kinds of memories he liked to remember.

As quickly as the smile had come, it disappeared when he heard the dull thunk of wood hitting against carpet. It was the sound of his grandfather's prosthetic leg clunking down the stairs.

"Arthur?" He barked in a raspy voice. "Arthur come out here at once!"

The young man sighed and marked his page in the book with a strip of paper. He walked out of the study to meet his grandfather, James, at the foot of the stairs.

James was a very old man, well into his 80's. He was almost entirely bald except for a few patches of wispy white hair here and there. His back was hunched over and he leaned heavily on a wooden cane. Where his left leg should've been was a wooden replacement. When he was a boy it had gotten caught in a bear trap and had to be amputated. Arthur remembered when he was younger he was terrified of his grandfather and only came to be closer to the water from where he lived in central Pennsylvania.

"Good afternoon, grandfather." Arthur nodded his head to the elder.

"Reading then damn books again? You idiot, a whole company is being handed down to you, but you woulf rather read about fish and mermaids! What's wrong with you, boy? Are you daft in the head?!" James shook his cane in the air before hobbling towards the dinning room.

Arthur followed. "No sir, I just find it quite fascinating. I don't believe in child's tales like mermaids and creatures of the deep, though. I think it co-"

He was cut off by the old man. "Enough, boy. Stomach pains. You give me stomach pains just thinking about the company being left to you. Now off, I don't want to see you until supper."

With a wave of the others hand, Arthur turned on his heel and grabbed his satchel and coat from a hook next to the door. He left the house and began down the long trail towards the small village nearby.

* * *

The two didn't get along very well with Arthur being more fascinated in the ocean than his grandfather's large fishing business. Almost daily they had that same exact fued.

Halfway to the village, he pushed aside a short hedge growing between the path and the ocean and walked down to the shore. Even on an overcast day like today the sea still looked beautiful. The waves lapping against the shore were a dark blue and the sand a mix between yellow and white. A few crabs scurried by and a seagull flew overhead farther down the coast.

Arthur loved the beach, and on a day like today it looked so peaceful and inviting. Almost like an invisible force was beckoning him to the water. Before he went to the water he took off his coat and shoes and left them on the sand far away from the water.

Arthur walked down to the waters edge with his satchel hanging over his shoulder. The moment the frigid water touched his toes he smiled. This is where he belonged, at the sea shore. Not in some stuffy office far away discussing the rise in tuna prices.

In the distance a loud splash was heard which broke Arthur from is thoughts. 'Must be some big fish nearby...' he dismissed it and looked at the shells that washed up on the beach.

After a while he walked back up the sand towards his belongings. Whenever he left it seemed like the waves got closer to him with every step he took.

He left his satchel with his things after taking out a notebook and an ink pen his grandfather had gotten from a business trip to New York City.

Arthur walked a bit further down the shore until he found a rather odd looking crab digging in the sand near a small cliff of rocks. On a rather large rock he sat for about an hour just sketching the specimen.

Over time he didn't notice the waves getting closer and closer to where he was. When he looked up again his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the water was just beginning to slap a rock nearby.

At first he didn't think much about it until he remembered his things sitting in the sand. His head jerked in the direction where he had left them. He leaped up from the rock and ran over when he saw that the water had whisked his things into the ocean.

"Nonononono!" Arthur grabbed his satchel before it could float farther away but his coat and shoes were a goner. He sighed and looked out over the ocean, the waves had retreated to where they had been before.

A look at his pocketwatch told him it was about time to head home. He took one last look at the ocean before pushing aside the small hedge and starting back down the path towards the house. Completely unaware of the blue eyes following him from the sea.

* * *

James was probably at a meeting in the next town over, but Arthur wasn't going to take any chances and quietly entered the house through the back door. He wiped off his feet with a wet rag as to not track footprints all over the house and hurried up the stairs. He nodded to a Martha, their housemaid, walking by with her hands full of sheets and disappeared into his room at the end of the hall.

His room was simple, the walls were covered in a creamy white wallpaper with vertical green stripes with a large window overlooking the ocean on the back wall. A small bed was in one corner of the room along with a nightstand and a desk was placed on the wall opposite. Drawings and papers filled with his looping cursive writing littered the floor. Next to the door was an oak wardrobe, it's contents clean and organized.

Arthur hung his satchel on the end of the desk chair and took out his observations journal. Resting on his bed he flipped through the worn pages of the notebook, most of the pages were filled with his observations and drawings of sea creatures. His whole life was that journal, almost 3 years he had recorded his findings in it.

After a while Arthur checked his pocketwatch again and leaned over to open up the curtains. The sun was beginning to set. He recorded the time in his notebook for later reference and stood up to stretch.

Arthur walked to the window and opened it, closing his eyes and leaning out to take a deep breath of salty air. When he opened his eyes again and looked out over the water he yelped out in surprise when he saw a head sticking out of the water looking right at him.

He stumbled back a few steps and when he looked out again it was gone.

"What in God's name was that?!" His breathing became a bit ragged. He could've sworn he saw a man watching him from the water.

"Calm down, Arthur, it was only your imagination. Nothing else..." He laid back down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. A few minutes later he was fast asleep.

* * *

He was at the beach. Waves were crashing onto the sand and the wind blew hard into his face, causing his bangs to whip around. The sky was dark gray and rain was pouring down on him. In the distance thunder boomed, a storm was hitting pretty hard.

Despite the rain, he wasn't wet. He looked down at his feet and yelped out in surprise when he saw that he wasn't standing on the sand, but floating a few feet above it.

When he turned his head a bit, he was speechless when he saw a ginormous ship sailing across the bay. It was an old fashion ship from the looks of it, maybe from 300 or 400 years ago. The rain and waves slapped hard against the ship. From where he was standing he could just barely see the outline of people running across the deck. The ship was too far away to tell, but it looked like there was a faint glow coming from the great vessel.

He closed his eyes to block against the rain and wind and when he opened them again he was floating high above the water next to the boat.

Madness was unfolding on deck. Sailors ran from bow to stern, pulling ropes and shouting to each other. The ages of the men seemed to vary from old men to even young boys.

The orange glow he had seen earlier turned out to be a fire that had started below the deck. The men were shouting to each other, trying to take control of the fire. Even when the boat began to tip and it was obvious they weren't going to make it they continued to tie things down and try to take control of the wheel. They were going to go down with the ship.

Something caught his eye, though, a young man had climbed atop the highest mast. Despite the wind and rain he seemed to stay balanced atop it. He didn't look to care about the ship as much as everyone else, he just continued to sit with his face buried in his hands. He probably knew that it was hopeless to try and stop the ship from going under.

Arthur blinked his eyes and when he opened them again he was floating in front of the young man.

At first, he didn't know what the other was doing. As he looked closer he saw the other was crying, his back rose up and down unevenly from the cold and the sobs that erupted from his body.

Lightening lit up the sky and the boy lifted his head to look up. He looked a few years younger than himself, with clear blue eyes like the sea on a summer afternoon and sandy blonde hair blown in every which direction from the wind.

He was muttering something to himself, Arthur could just barely make out the words 'so close' and 'I'll never see her again'.

Arthur felt bad for the boy, such a young age to die and so abruptly.

When the wind blew again, it carried a soft sound to their ears. It was very faint but beautiful sounding song. The boy looked around frantically trying to find where the heavenly melody had come from.

It came from the deep sea below.

The song seemed to relax the other and as the ship began to tip farther over, he carefully stood up with a calm look on his face. He took one last gulp of air before diving into the sea.

Instead of watching him, Arthur's body fell with him. Why was he falling with him?

Arthur opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. When he collided with the water, voices whispered into his ears. The voices were saying something, but Arthur couldn't tell what it was. The voices were so calm, so hypnotizing, he began to relax and closed his eyes.

They snapped back open when a powerful force seemed to push him further down into the dark ocean.

The other boy was gone, the voices had stopped and he was sinking deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. The water was almost black from the lack of light. He tried to scream but he didn't have any air in his lungs. He tried to kick but it felt like his legs were made of bricks.

Looking up one last time he saw 2 blue orbs staring back at him.

* * *

_Hello, author here. I hope you guys liked this, I've been wanting to write it forever and now seemed like a good time. I will try to reguraly update this and I am working on the second chapter of The Invisible Boundary. That story is taking a bit longer to write but it will come probably around December._

_Thank you so much and review please! I love to get feedback from you guys about the story and what you think is going to happen._

_~toxicwaffles1000_


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. This is my first real story so I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to write it so I kept changing the story from First Person to Third Person which caused me to have to keep rewriting the chapter. I did delete my other story because it wasn't coming out the way I had hoped it would when I first posted it, so all my attention will be focused on this story to get you guys faster updates._

___Also, just wanted to give you guys some information so the story makes a bit more sense before you read._

_I did go back in the last chapter and changed a few things so if this chapter doesn't make sense you might want to read the first chapter __again. I won't do that anymore for the remainder of the story, I just had to fix a few things._

_The story takes place in_ _1868 and Arthur is 18 years old. He lives with his grandfather in a small village on the cape of Massachusetts. Everything about his parents and other family members will be explained later in the story, don't want to give too much away just yet ;)_

_Now on with the story!_

* * *

Deep and Dangerous and Forbidden

Chapter 2

_Knock Knock_

Arthur awoke to rasping at his bedroom door. The covers of his bed had been harshly tugged and kicked and were now laying in a heap on the floor.

"Arthur? Supper is almost ready, dear." Martha's voice was a bit muffled through the door but Arthur could still hear it.

"Okay, let me freshen up a bit first then I'll be down." He stood up and yawned, looking at his pocket watch. He had only been asleep for 20 minutes, it had felt like so much longer...

Outside the sky was dark and stars were beginning to peek out. The window was still open and the green curtains were flapping around from the cool breeze blowing in. When Arthur went to close the window he was a bit reluctant, imagining whatever was outside before to still be watching him from the water.

Arthur scolded himself for being childish, but when he went to close the window and curtains he poked his head out and scanned the water to make sure whatever was out there from before was truly gone. The water was dark and only things he could make out were a few large rocks near the beach. There was no mysterious figure stalking him or eyes glowing from under the waves.

"Just as I thought, nothing." Arthur mumbled as he stood back to close the window.

With the window closed and the drapes pulled, he felt a bit safer. Though, that was just his mind making him think so. Arthur was just as safe with the window open.

The teen blinked in the almost entirely dark room and lit a few candles sitting on his desk so he could see. Making his way over to the wooden wardrobe, he opened one of the doors to look at his sleepy reflection in the floor-length mirror.

Arthur's hair was ruffled up from the pillow, his clothes were wrinkled, and his eyes were still half-lidded from sleep. He stripped out of the wrinkled garments and got a clean button up shirt and black slacks from the wardrobe. James would have a fit if he came to the table with wrinkled clothes or sleep attire on. He ran a comb through his unruly blonde locks a few times in attempt to tame it and glanced at the mirror again, satisfied with his appearance.

He blew out the candles and left the room, walking down the hall to the stairs. Arthur avoided all the windows he passed even though a part of him wanted to look out across the dark water again.

The teen hurried down the stairs and over to the front door where he slipped on his spare pair of shoes as his normal pair had been swept into the ocean earlier that day. James required shoes at the dinning table but not in any other room in the house. It was strange that he had to wear shoes just to eat supper but whatever kept the old git happy.

James was sitting at the head of the dining room table like usual when Arthur walked in. He took a seat next to his grandfather and smiled at Martha as she set a plate of beef on the table before closing the door that led to the kitchen so the two could dine in private.

Martha had been their housemaid since Arthur's father, Ezra, was born. She had been like a mother to Arthur since his real mother had died when he was born. Despite how close they were, James still insisted Arthur call her Miss. Willamar. Martha was a short, plump woman with grayish blonde hair always pulled up into a tight bun. She was the complete utter opposite of James and quite possibly the best cook on he whole cape.

The two filled their plates with the meat and vegetables set on the table and ate in silence after Martha left. The only noise in the room coming from their knives scraping against the china plates and glasses clinking against the table. Arthur could feel his grandfather's eyes watching him but continued to give his undivided attention to the plate set in front of him.

"Arthur, I am tired of your childish antics. You're the only heir to the company and I'll be damned if I leave it to you while you're in this _stage_ of yours." Now Arthur could really feel the other's eyes burning into his head, his face felt a bit hot.

The way he said stage irritated Arthur greatly. This was no '_stage in his life', _the water was the only place he could be himself. The only place that really felt like home to him. The only thing that brought him closure in this mad world.

"It's not childish, grandfather, it's a real branch of o-"

He snorted and waved his fork around in the air, a piece of meat stuck in its prongs. "Last time I checked, running about the beach was children's play."

"I don't run around the beach and there is so much waiting to be discovered out there! How can it not capture your thoughts? The world is so big, and the ocean is even bigger! Just waiting to be dis-" Again Arthur was cut off.

"Listen to yourself, boy! You're turning into a looney just like your father! That shit is going to kill you just like it did him!" He growled at me as he placed the fork into his mouth.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my father like that." Arthur hissed at the other with a glare.

"I'll talk about him how I want because he was my son! He was a lunatic and a disgrace, and you're following the same path!"

When he said that, something inside Arthur seemed to snap.

"He wasn't a lunatic or a disgrace, he just didn't turn out the way _you _wanted him to! He didn't listen to you because he wanted to be free of you!" Arthur laughed a bit and pointed an accusing finger at the other.

"You forget how he died then, boy, drowned because of his infantile games."

"His death was an accident and you know that!" Arthur's eyes focused back on his plate. He hated talking about his father, and especially with James. His face felt terribly hot now and he was extremely embarrassed about how his voice had broke halfway through the outburst.

"Enough of this, I've had quite enough. You're coming to the office with me starting tomorrow. No more of this nonsense, I will not have a repeat of Ezra. This science business is absolute rubbish and I swear to God that this time tomorrow every book in this house having to do with the ocean will be gone." James looked at the younger Kirkland with his beady old eyes and waited for Arthur to say something. _  
_

Despite his hard-headedness Arthur clenched his jaw down hard and kept his eyes focused on the saucer in front of him.

"Fine. Take them away, see if I care." Arthur could put on an act, sure as hell wasn't about to give the other the satisfaction of seeing him miserable.

James sat silently and just looked at the other before continuing his meal. Arthur couldn't tell what his grandfather was thinking from his facial expression in the candlelight. He just looked like an old, tired man.

"May I be excused?" Arthur asked as he had suddenly lost his appetite. James nodded in response and Arthur stood up silently from the table.

"Goodnight, grandfather." The teen bowed his head to the other, pushed in his chair, and complimented Martha on the meal because he knew she was listening through the door.

Turning on his heel, Arthur left the dining room and retreated back upstairs to his room for the evening.

* * *

The clothes he had been wearing were still clean but James didn't like him wearing the same clothes twice.

Y'know what? To hell with James, Arthur thought as he hung the clothes over his desk chair to be worn the next day and dressed into his nightclothes. He washed his face and was about to get into bed before glancing over at his desk again and seeing his notebook lying near his stationary. If James was being serious, which Arthur knew he was, he would find a way to dispose of the journal.

James had seen Arthur carrying the book about with him on several occasions so he knew it had the teen's observations in it. Arthur walked over to the desk and rummaged through a drawer until he found another notebook that looked similar to the one on his desk. The book was mostly filled with old observations and mediocre drawings he had done when he first started researching the sea at 14. James didn't know that though, he would take the decoy notebook and think it was the real one. While the actual one would be hidden beneath a loose floorboard under his bed.

Arthur smiled at his plan and left the fake on the desk where the real one would've been and got into bed. He tossed and turned for a while until he found a comfortable position and fell asleep.

Unlike earlier, Arthur slept peacefully for a while until he was awoken by a strange flapping noise coming from the direction of the window. Arthur sat up and blinked his eyes a few times to adjust to the darkness and when he turned his head he saw that the window had somehow opened sometime during the night and a strong wind was blowing the curtains around. Judging by the darkness of the room, it must've been sometime during the early morning hours.

Arthur was puzzled with how his sliding window could have opened in the middle of the night, but groggily stood up anyway to close the window so he could go back to sleep. He yawned and rubbed one of his eyes as he shuffled across the floor to the window, stopping dead in his tracks when he noticed something shining in the moonlight on the windowsill. Taking a closer look, Arthur realized it was a necklace. A golden heart-shaped locket on a matching gold chain. He picked it up and ran his thumb over the design engraved into the pendant before leaning out the window to see if someone had placed it there. That was impossible though, his bedroom was on the second floor and if someone were to have put the locket there then Arthur would have heard the noise of a ladder hitting against the house.

It was still very early in the morning so Arthur closed his window and curtains again and placed the necklace on his nightstand. He would examine it more closely in the morning.

Arthur got back into his bed and tried to fall asleep but found he couldn't with the strange necklace lying just an arms reach away. With a groan he sat up again and grabbed the locket. The teen walked to his desk where he lit a few candles so he could look at the locket.

The pendant was in the shape of a heart and now that he looked more closely he noticed swirled designs and patterns carved into the front. It looked to be quite old from the dull gold color and broken chain. Arthur turned to look at the back of the heart and noticed small letters etched into the gold surface. It was still too dark to make out the words and some of the letters had been worn away, but it had already peaked the young man's curiosity.

Arthur thought for a few seconds before sliding the necklace into his shirt pocket and slipping outside of his room into the dark hallway. Carefully, he crept down the almost entirely pitch black hall to the stairs, feeling the wall so he didn't knock into anything. When he walked in front of his grandfather's room, he tried to stay calm but when he took his next step a loud creaking noise came from the board. Arthur waited for his grandfather to wake and him get caught, but the hall was still silent. He moved his foot again and another loud squeak echoed down the corridor. A light creak could be hear as the his grandfather shifted in his bed but he still didn't come out.

Quickly, Arthur walked down the hall ignoring all the squeaks and creaks that came from the floorboards and made it to the safety of the carpeted stairs. After that loud performance he was sure the other would come out but the house was just as dark and silent as it had been when he had left his room. The teen hurried down the stairs and across the dark foyer to James' study. Half of the room was dark like the rest of the house, but the other half was a ghostly white color from the moonlight that shone through the large bay windows. The drapes were still pulled back as they would be on any other day.

The wooden floor was very sturdy and not a sound came from the boards as Arthur walked to the oak desk in front of the windows. The moonlight cast a ghostly shadow across the stacks of papers and envelopes lying on the desk. Arthur rummaged around the desktop and drawers until he came across a small wooden box about the size of his forearm with the initials J.L.K engraved in the top.

Found it.

He picked up the box out and flipped open the lid. Inside was a silver letter opener with a crystal handle and a matching silver magnifying glass. Arthur had gotten it for James a year or so ago for the Christmas, he didn't really use the magnifying glass but kept it anyway because the 2 came as a set.

Arthur held the magnifying glass in one hand and pulled out the locket with his other. In the moonlight he could read the engraving without having to light a candle. Despite the few worn away letters, the teen could just barely make out what it said.

_Lucille,_

_No matter how far away I am, you will be the only one to forever hold my heart._

_All my love,_

_Charles_

Charles? The name sounded oddly familiar but, judging by how old the locket was, he could't be sure. Arthur felt a slight tingle through his body as he repeated the words in his head. He lifted the pendent to his lips and held it there for a few seconds before closing his eyes and sighing. Outside the waves could be heard, lightly hitting against the sand. The more he listened the louder they got as if they were tempting him to enter the water. Louder and louder until Arthur couldn't take it.

Almost as if he was in a trance, the young man gazed out the window with wide eyes before placing the magnifying glass back on the desk and slipping the locket back in his pocket. Arthur walked out of the study to the front door of the house and didn't even bother putting on a pair of shoes or a coat before opening up the door and leaving the warmth of the house for the cold of night.

* * *

The gravel path felt uncomfortable beneath his feet but he continued to walk until he had gotten to the hedge separating him from his normal beach spot. Arthur pushed aside the foliage and picked his way carefully down the rocky beach. The sea was dark like the sky, but eerily beautiful. The reflection of the full moon rippled across the surface and the sound of the waves splashing against the beach made the teen smile as he walked down the the cliff of rocks. It was high tide so the water lightly slapped against the rocks as Arthur sat down on a large one close to the water and lowered his bare toes into the darkness below him. The ocean was freezing cold as normal but it calmed the young man in a way he couldn't explain.

_Splash, splash, crash. Splash, splash, crash_

His feet lightly kicked the water as he looked up at the stars twinkling in the raven sky. Something smooth touched Arthur's foot and he picked his feet out of the water confused. Not seeing anything in the water, Arthur guessed it was a bit of seaweed or some sort of fish. He put his feet back in the water and continued to look up at the sky. A splashing noise came from nearby but Arthur ignored it, just another fish or something.

Slowly, the teen began to drift off back to sleep as the sound of the ocean made him feel quite drowsy. The waves came a bit higher up to his shins but Arthur didn't notice in his now sleep-like state.

_Splash, splash, crash. Splash, splash, crash_

Arthur cracked one of his eyes open a bit as he felt something touch his foot again. He ignored it and started to fall back to sleep, enjoying the strange touch against his wet toes. It felt like a fish or something was swimming between his open feet, brushing against the pale skin.

His thoughts changed though when he felt two smooth, human-like hands grab his feet. Arthur's eyes opened wide and his mouth let out a loud gasp.

"Hello, Arthur. It's so great to finally meet you."

* * *

_Starting to get to the good parts! I'm not sure how long this story will be but I have most of it planned out already._

_I love seeing your reviews and I promise the next chapter will be out sooner than this one was. Probably around Christmas as the chapters are going to start to get longer. Also, sorry for any spelling mistakes, I try to catch them all but a few slip._

_Until next time,_

_Toxicwaffles1000_


	3. Chapter 3

_I am sooooooooooo sorry about how late this chapter came. After I wrote my 2nd chapter, I had 0 inspiration/motivation to start on another chapter because I had no idea what to write. But I pushed through and here I am with another update for you guys. Expect updates at least once a month from now on. Maybe twice if I feel up to it. I like to give you guys a few thousand words each update. And that get's quite hard._

_Enough droning from me, enjoy the chapter 3._

* * *

Chapter 3

_Blue._

Arthur jerked back up and yelped. He was staring right into the cerulean blue eyes of the creature that had grabbed his feet. Eyes he had seen before, but from where? He couldn't remember.

This was no fish like he had thought before, it looked like a man.

The teen's breath caught in his throat and he tried to scoot back when he noticed a few more menacing details in the darkness. It's lips were curved back in a grin showing sharp teeth similar to a sharks but longer. Ghostly pale skin and blonde hair shown silver in the moonlight. And it's eyes. They glowed in the darkness a beautiful light blue with white slits for pupils.

Arthur blinked a few times to calm himself and took a few more raged breaths before he started laughing.

"Oh god, you startled me." He chuckled and looked up at the sky.

The creature gripping his feet frowned and dug his nails into Arthur's flesh. "What do you find funny about this?" It had a deep, gurgling sounding voice. Like there was water in the back of its throat.

Arthur winced when he felt the pricks of the other's nails but continued to laugh.

"Well, this is all a dream. I haven't seen any buggers like you in years," Arthur smiled. "Good to know my imagination still works well."

The stranger lifted an eyebrow. "You've seen things like me before?"

"When I was a lad, not so much anymore. This is so strange, I feel like I'm a child again." Arthur smiled a bit to himself as he remembered playing at the beach with creatures like this one, but the other's were a lot less horrifying than the one looking at him.

"You're not afraid of me?"

"I'll admit I was startled at first, but this is all a dream. Lovely meeting you, but I must be going now." Arthur closed his eyes and reached up to pinch the skin around his shoulder.

The creature began to laugh and shook his head. "This'll be even easier than the last one," he whispered a bit too loud to himself.

"What's so funny?" Arthur opened his eyes and scrunched his nose in confusion at what the other said.

A devilish smirk graced the stranger's face and he gave a harsh tug on Arthur's feet, pulling him off the rock and into the frigid water.

Arthur screamed and tried to pull away but the creature was much stronger than him, dragging the teen away from the beach at an unnaturally fast speed.

Arthur was horrified. He tried to kick his feet away from the other, but it only dug its nails in farther. The young man's head was just barely above the surface and every time he tried to take a breath, water rushed into his lungs and caused him to cough.

_This has to be a dream, part of a strange dream I'll wake up from any minute now. _Arthur thought to himself.

When he didn't wake up in his bed, Arthur began to panic. _This, this is real. This is real. All of it's real_. Creatures that he thought only existed in children's tales were more than just stories. They were living, breathing, monsters.

With no way to escape and his body deprived of oxygen, Arthur stopped struggling and felt a searing pain in his lungs. His entire body felt painfully frozen from the water. If he didn't die from drowning, then he'd definitely die from hypothermia.

However, a final shot of adrenaline ran through his body and he kicked his legs as hard as his weak body could. And somehow, it was just hard enough to free his feet from the creature.

Arthur broke the surface of the water and gasped for air, his limbs were almost frozen and he could barely keep himself from sinking. Darkness began to overcome him and the teen's legs and arms stopped moving and bubbles escaped his blue lips as he began to drift down into the endless void below him.

The last thing he saw was the silvery light of the moon's reflection rippling on the surface of the water before his eyes drifted shut and the bubbles ceased.

A voice inside of him whispered as Arthur drifted farther down to the sea floor.

_No, Arthur, you're our only chance. Our last hope. You must keep fighting._

* * *

"Oh god, is it dead?" A shrill feminine sounding voice asked.

"Well, I don't know. It looks pretty fine to me." This voice was deeper than the first.

"Enough with the sarcasm! What if it still is?"

"Then you can deal with it."

The sound of boots against wood became faint before disappearing completely.

"What happened to you?" The first voice asked with a sigh

* * *

Arthur awoke in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, covered in thick, heavy blankets. Only his head stuck out from the mountain of quilts, and he was beginning to feel warm. The inside of his mouth tasted sour and his eyelids stuck together with gunk.

He wiggled a bit to try and get out of the strange bed, but his limbs hurt when he moved them so he stopped. The young man stared at the ceiling and wall of the small room he was in.

The walls and ceiling were wooden with a few painted crosses adorning them. The room was almost bare save for the tiny table beside the bed, a large, old wooden trunk, and a mirror on the other side of the room. A cottage-style window was next to his bed, it was closed with the curtains pulled. Only a small sliver of dusty light shown through.

_Where am I? _He thought.

Arthur thrashed around in the blankets some more and eventually got one arm free. It was paler and thinner than usual. _How long have I been asleep? _He thought to himself. The teen began to panic more and tried harder to free himself from the soft cocoon.

A few minutes and harsh wiggles later, Arthur had rolled off the bed and was lying face-first on the floor still stuck in the blankets. A painful welt was beginning to form on the boy's forehead. _Could this get any worse? _He groaned.

The teen laid on the floor for a few minutes before trying to move again. Once he tried a few crawling techniques, he decided it was easiest when he lifted his backside and brought it back down, similar in movement to a caterpillar, he could inch forward and closer to the door. Luckily he had one hand out to also help him move. _This is humiliating. _

As he scooted across the floor, the blankets seemed to be loosening and soon Arthur had both of his arms free. Slowly, he made his way to the door and reached up to turn the knob. The house had stayed quiet during all of his loud struggling, so he assumed nobody was home.

The door opened easily and the young man poked his head out the doorway.

The room had been at the end of a short hallway, another door was in front of him. To his left the corridor turned and led off to another part of the house he was being kept in._ Oh god, have I been kidnapped? No, the door would've been locked. What happened last night?_

Arthur stopped and really thought about what had happened. He couldn't remember anything. _Think Harder, Arthur. There must be something._

_There was the fight with James over dinner, then I went upstairs. I did a few things before going to bed, but that's it. How did I end up here?_

The hallway nor room looked even slightly familiar to him. Arthur crawled out into the hall and his body rapidly started to heat up. The teen had to get out of the blankets before his body started to overheat. He gripped the floor with his now shaky hands and slowly wiggled his weak form out of the blankets and collapsed on the floor.

His whole body hurt and his forehead and neck were glistening with sweat. The house was quite warm and inside all of those blankets had felt incredibly hot.

The young man slowly got to his knees and gripped the wall for support as he tried to stand on his shaky legs. When he put pressure on his feet, a shocking pain ran up his legs. The teen yelped and looked down.

Arthur was dressed in a thick night shirt and loose pantaloons. The young man leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. He rolled the loose material up to his thighs and stared in shock at his legs. Bandages were wrapped from the knees down and cover all of his feet. His thighs were paler than normal and extremely thin with unusual scars and scratches.

Away in the house a door slammed and voices echoed through the house. Arthur tensed up and stared down the hall as the sound footsteps came closer to where he was. Arthur could just barely hear the conversation.

"-this morning. I'm not sure what to do now, thank you for coming."

"Just show me where he is and I'll take it from there."

_Are they talking about me? What do they mean by that?_

"Oh, thank you. My brother has been away and you were the only person I knew could handle this."

"You're going to pay me, right?."

"As long as you don't tell anyone, he's right in-" A woman walked to the entrance of the hallway and looked down at Arthur. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open.

"What is it? Are you-?" A man turned around the corner and looked down at Arthur.

The woman stood silent for a few seconds with a look of confusion and fear on her face. "What? How? I-I saw him, he wasn't..."

"Damn, I was going to go for drinks tonight..." The man muttered and started to turn around.

"No, please. At least until my brother comes back. He said it would only be a day or two..."

"As much as I'd love to see the ol' codger, I can't. I have, eh, other things to attend to. Can I at least have a little money? It's a long way back to town y'know..."

The two moved from the hallway where Arthur sat to the small living room where the front door was.

"Fine, here." The jingle of money could be heard from where Arthur was.

"I have other appointments to take care of, so I should be leaving. Long ride back to town."

"Yes, you told me. I'll see you bright and early on Monday. Any later than eight and you're fired. Got it?"

"I know. I'll be there, if I don't get too many drinks tonight." The man cackled.

A door opened and closed and footsteps walked back to the hallway. The woman appeared and glared down at the other.

"What the hell are you?" She spat out each word with a look of disgust as she walked a bit closer. Her hands gripping something behind her back.

Arthur's throat was dry and his voice was weak but he managed out a soft, "W-what?"

"I said, what the hell are you?" She grit her teeth and walked even closer until she was standing right in front of the young man.

"I-I don't understand wh-what you mean..."

A cold laugh escaped her lips and she leaned down so she was eye level with Arthur "Like hell you don't, I'm going to ask you one more time. What. Are. You."

"I h-have no idea what y-you're talking about." Arthur furrowed his brows and looked back into the woman's forest green eyes.

"You were dead this morning. You've been dead since I pulled your arse up in a fish net a week ago. How are you alive?"

Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat and his eyes grew wide. All the color had drained from his face.

* * *

_Dundundun! Leave a review about what you think is going to happen next. Who are these new characters? _

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_I hope you enjoyed it and will stick around for Chapter 4!_

_~Toxic Waffle Mama_


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